5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him"

Can I get some clarity on this passage? My understanding is that it is saying to pray in private, and that public displays of praying are boastful & for show. Then does that mean attending church & being quick to say a prayer aloud is not warranted? I enjoy going to church, but I have always felt that some people who are always quick to lead a prayer or say a prayer for you are being fake - as in doing it more for themselves and their image.

Jesus is not saying that we should never pray with others. We should do so and we should indeed pray for others as well as for our needs.
Keep in mind that Jesus said that when 2 or more are gathered together in His name He is in the there with them.
That includes Church and prayer groups.
It also includes when we say table grace before meals.
Peace and kindness,
Fred

Jesus was specifically speaking to the Pharisees in this passage. The passage is talking about their hypocrisy, in their "religion". Remember prayer is really only talking to the Father God, so I see no reason not to talk to the Father any time I can.

Well, I believe Jesus is talking about MOTIVE. The Lord always dives to the root issues. He wants our MOTIVES to be pure. It isn't to be for show. He is teaching it should come from the heart and not to impress men. There is nothing in the world wrong with praying in public... but make sure your motive is pure and not to impress yourself or those around you.

Yes. If you've ever heard Ken Medema's song "Mr. Simon" it illustrates the difference quite well.

450donn and ClassyT,
I agree with both of you on this.
Peace and kindness,
Fred

It is good to go to church and pray.

It is not good to repeat the prayer over and over.

Speak from the heart rather than repeat the same stuff.

Do not pray in public as many do in the hope that they will be seen by men to be holy.

Many in private where you can discuss matters in private with God.

Pray in public to be seen by others to be holy and that is the only reward you will get.

I agree, Fred. Jesus himself prayed openly in public so if prayer was something God preferred we do in private, I wouldn't expect Jesus to pray in public. Also, in Acts 4 (and in various other places in the Old Testament as well) the disciples were together praying for boldness... again, if prayer were something God wanted people to do privately, we would not expect to see the disciples together praying.

It is as Classy said, prayer is a reflection of our heartfelt motivations... good or bad. There have been times in my own heart where I prayed to be "seen of men" and felt ashamed of that afterward. Then there have been times where I knew that if I prayed it wouldn't have been with good intentions so I kept my mouth silent. And on other occasions, prayer was something that flowed out of my heart with the purest of intentions.

As people go, our hearts are not always pure and our motivations have to be examined at times; prayer is a good barometer of what lies in our hearts.

It bothered me a great deal when prayer was taken from our schools. . I realize this has been a sore point with a lot of good Christians. But I honestly believe you can bow your head and pray no matter where you are and if you are earnest God hears that prayer.

You can pray anywhere you are and if it's in Church or in the middle of a busy street... you are talking with the Lord. I wish we were still allowed to pray with the kids in school, but nobody on this earth can stop a prayer that is a silent one or one that is made in front of a million people. If the heart and the soul is sincere God will hear that prayer.

My point is , you don't have to stand and give an eloquent prayer in front of a thousand people or read a prayer from a program. You can pray in the darkest hours of midnight when your heart is troubled or you can pray At church when everyone can hear... God hears the prayer of a righteous person no matter where you are. Another thing ,I don't need permission from the Supreme Court or The Senate or the President to fall down and cry out to God. I can do that where ever I am.

Yes! He specifically said that he was talking about hypocrites who only pray in public to show off, so people would look at them and say "Wow, he's really holy!" As my mother used to say, those kinds of prayers don't go any higher than the ceiling.

But praying in a group, with unified motives and mutual support, is very powerful. There's strength in numbers, as long as those numbers are praying from the heart.

ClassyT, I keep trying to give you greenies but it's still telling me I need to spread it around before I can give you another one. Be assured I'm greenie-ing you in my heart!

Jake,

I grew up listening to my father pray and the brothers in our church, they use the thee and thou's. When I was a leader in a small women's group at my church, it was really hard for me to pray outloud. I was always so busy sounding "spirtual" ( I didn't use thee's and thou but I was always quoting scripture) that it really wasn't a prayer at all, it was ME trying to sound impressive. But in private, I talk to the Lord Jesus like I actually KNEW him. I told the Lord he was going to have to to have to help me with the problem because I had a real fear of sounding like a dufus. Instantly I had this thought run through my mind... you are accepted in the beloved and the fear of man is a snare. Wow! Again he got right to the root of my problem. I felt the Lord really impress upon me to just let my mouth speak what was REALLY in my heart. So that is what I do and I believe even if I sound like a dufus head in front of other people, I know my savior totally approves of me, my prayers and my intention. What an awesome God we serve!!

:) :)

Bless all of you!:)